This blog is my silo,
my storage of personal fodder for future harvesting.
A home for thoughts and ideas to ferment, grow and eventually ultimately ripen.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

they cheered as the kid hit the police officer.....

I recently found an old journal of mine from many years ago.
I thought I would share this entry about a boy and his schoolmates and their aggression
for authority.

It hasn’t been a good
day for the education system. In San Diego a student opened fire in a school. Two
dead, thirteen wounded and hundreds scarred with the memories and fears.

Closer to home, a
seventh grade student hit a teacher in the face with the cast on his arm. He hit
the teacher several times. The teacher didn’t fight back. He tried to put his
hands up in defense of his bloody face. The child taunted him and kept swinging
at him. The boy yelled profanities at the teacher and called him names. “Pussy!
Chicken! Asshole!”

One of the other
teachers called 911. You could hear the sirens coming from a mile away. The
squad car squealed to a stop at the front of the school. The boy continued to
hit and chase the bloody teacher. The boy didn’t respond to the police
officers.

The officer kept
yelling for the boy to stop and drop to the ground. Suddenly, the boy ran up to
the officer and hit him twice in the face with his cast. He kept swinging until
the officer finally was able to get the boy onto the ground. The boy continued
to scream and try to fight the officer.

All of this occurred
at the end of the school day. The bell rang and the entire student body exited
onto the playground as the officer took the boy to the ground. He was trying to
control the aggressive boy. The students laughed, some cried, but most cheered
for their fellow student to continue to try and hit the officer. Some jumped up
and down and screamed “oohhss” and “ahhhs” when the boy squirmed out from under
the officer and managed to hit him in shoulder. The kids clapped and cheered.

I was stunned by the
how the authority figures had fallen in the eyes of the children. Children do
not hold the same beliefs about teachers or police officers that they did when
I was growing up. Never would a student hit a teacher. Never would it be
expected by the staff either. It has been as sad, sad day.